“Take one day at a time.”

“You have to eat a spoonful of peas before you leave the table.” I can still hear my mom talking to my brothers and I at dinner time. I slathered my peas with ketchup and reluctantly choked them down. Why did I have to eat these nasty peas? 20 years later, I am SO grateful for these traumatic childhood experiences with vegetables. Without my mom guiding me in the direction of healthy eating, I would not be where I am today.

Fast forward to college, I was lost without my mom’s home cooked, delicious dinners. I began to overexercise and restrict due to body image concerns and lack of available healthy choices. Underweight and starved for nutrients, I awoke to self-degradation and began to exercise to build strength. Lifting weights and Zumba became two of my passions, stress relievers, and motivations to be healthy. As I started to feed my body what it needed, I began the healing journey with my relationship with food. And let me tell you, it is a journey. Is it over? No.

After college, I decided to eat a vegetarian diet. My mom had been a vegetarian since she was 26 years old, so I grew up learning about the benefits. When I moved out of my parents’ house, I began to learn to cook for myself. I researched what I needed to eat to build muscle. I meal prepped every Sunday so that I would have readily available, nutrient dense breakfasts and lunches for the week. I started using food as fuel, and I felt called to help teenage girls who struggle with eating disorders. It is not an easy journey to do alone.

I started to share my food on Instagram and with one of my friends from Zumba. She really enjoyed the food and asked if I had ever considered meal prepping for others as a small business. LIGHTBULB MOMENT. I had not, but let me tell you, God had other plans. This moment filled me with interest and excitement, and I started researching everything plant based. As I watched documentaries, listened to podcasts, and read articles and books, I became even more invested and curious.

Most recently, I have been on the auto-immune disease long road to diagnosis. Auto-immune diseases are very complex, and they do not have a cure. If you are an anxious person that prioritizes your physical health, you can imagine how terrible this is to hear. Funny thing is, many auto-immune diseases can be put in remission without flares or debilitating symptoms when the person has a healthy lifestyle. So as I am reading how a plant based diet can reduce inflammation and listening to my neurologist who says a plant based diet is excellent and a lot of immunity issues are connected to inflammation, I logically decide to go fully plant based. If I can fight this disease by exercising, eating plants, and decreasing stress, of course I will do it. I want to live a full life that includes helping people on their journeys, starting a family, and listening to God’s desires for me. One Leaf at a Thyme gives me the opportunity to educate others about the power of plants and a healthy lifestyle. And the cherry on top is that I get to do it with my best friend, my mom.

My mom, Jill, grew up reading cookbooks. She wasn’t interested in reading anything else. She became a vegetarian when she lived on her own. She cooked for herself, and just got away from buying meat. Once she had a family, she prioritized cooking healthy meals for us. She packed our lunches each day and made a wonderful dinner each night. My dad, brothers, and I were so blessed by her tireless efforts in the kitchen. She enjoyed it too. Anytime we would go to the bookstore, she always looked at cookbooks and food magazines. We always joked about one day opening a coffee shop or a bookstore.

As I got older, I encouraged her to go back to school to become a dietician or nutritionist. I always felt cooking was her gift that she could offer the world. She began watching more and more documentaries and doing her research about the benefits of a plant based diet. When my friend asked me to cook for other people, I instantly knew my mom and I were that team. I couldn’t do it alone. She is the natural cook that inspired me since I was a little girl indulging in my nightly bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with rainbow sprinkles on top.

Now, we get to learn, cook, inspire, help, and grow together. As we grow our roots, thank you for supporting us! Like my mom always says, “Take one day at a time.” Let’s take one step at a time in our plant based journey, and we can do that together with One Leaf at a Thyme.